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Funeral
Funeral is the eleventh episode of Season 1 of Malcolm in the Middle and the eleventh episode overall of the show. Plot The family reluctantly prepares for Aunt Helen's funeral, but Lois finally gets fed-up by the collective attitude and announces she's going to take a bubble bath and everyone else can do their own things. Francis is upset that Aunt Helen's death was not reported to him. This frees Malcolm to attend a concert with Julie, but she catches him in his underwear and runs away. Summary On a Sunday morning, the family is getting ready for Lois' Aunt Helen's funeral. While colouring his dress shoes, Hal explains to Dewey what happens to people after they die. Telling him that after death people get bloated before shrivelling up followed by having their flesh eaten by microbes and ones head slowly shrinking, before Lois tell him that he needs to get ready for the funeral. Malcolm is less than thrilled in going to Aunt Helen's funeral because he is forced to cancel plans he had made to go to a concert with Julie Houlerman instead, with Julie informing him she may give the extra ticket to a football player named Jimmy Wescott. Lois enters the kitchen to find Dewey's silent friend named Egg who is eating cereal. Lois tells Dewey Egg needs to go home but Egg keeps coming back. Malcolm finds it unfair and knows whether it is a wedding, funeral or court date all of his family gatherings for him are the same, old women pinching his cheeks, claiming he can't wait until he gets acne so then he will be able to fight back, he tells his mother but Lois is adamant in going and gives Malcolm guilt for not feeling bad for his late great aunt. Before getting ready, Hal was looking forward to listening to his records and tells Lois he needs to get his speech ready. Lois informs him that he doesn't have to speak at every funeral they go to but Hal is convinced people look to him for the reason. Francis then phones Lois and learns of Aunt Helen's demise which he isn't happy about because no one told him about a family member dying and is even more upset when Lois tells him that Aunt Helen's husband Uncle Fred had died two months prior. Lois wants to see the boys suits, but Malcolm and Dewey's are too small, so Reese and Malcolm hand theirs down, now seeing Reese is in his boxers she makes him wear a suit from her late Uncle Fred. Reese is excited about a dead suit and is the only one actually looking forward to going to Aunt Helen's funeral because he trashed an expensive Mighty Man toy and wants to bury it with her so no one finds out, and since it is an open-casket. He explains to Malcolm he has no idea why he does reckless and brutal deeds only claiming he doesn't want to get caught, and he learned from a lawyer show Lois will think he did it but cannot prove it without evidence "No Evidence, No Conviction, E Pleribus Unum". Malcolm points that she will find out sooner or later because the Mighty Man toy is meant to be Dewey's birthday present next week. Francis tries to get an answer from Dewey about how Aunt Helen died but he can't get a straight answer from him or Hal. Later talking to Lois he feels like he's not part of the family Francis continues to rant to Lois asking her if anyone else has died without him knowing, she tells about the family's daily activities and wonders if he wants her to send him a picture of her foot after she dropped a frying pan on it. When she sees Egg throwing utensils out of a drawer, she tells him to stop before Francis asks who Egg is, her only response is Egg was a new boy in the house, confusing him once again. Lois orders Dewey to get rid of Egg before he causes the family more grief. Later on as Hal is getting dressed for Aunt Helen's funeral, he reveals to Malcolm that Lois and everyone else hated her informing him he had to forbid her from calling for always making Lois cry. Irate that Lois lied to him about being close to her, he calls Julie again and lies about Aunt Helen, giving him a leeway to go to the concert. Malcolm first tries to injure his eye, but Reese wont help him because it will leave evidence. He then makes up a fake book report but is caught after Lois turns the tables on him causing him to mess up the details. Lois explains to Malcolm she doesn't care whether or not she liked Aunt Helen because it is their duty as her family to be there. Malcolm argues back and it erupts in a fight between her, Malcolm and Hal. Hal stands up to her by claiming that Francis was right about Lois being a control freak and admits no one wants to go to Aunt Helen's funeral. He points out that everyone hated her so much. Hal had plans to listen to his records all day and is only giving up that moment to attend that travesty of a funeral for someone everyone in Lois' family hated all their lives. She is offended by Hal's words because it means no one cares about how she feels in the matter. They and Malcolm hear Reese honking in the car to hurry up and get inside the car so they can to go to Aunt Helen's funeral. They ignore it as their anger is towards each other. Hal also admits that instead of cleaning the gutters he would much rather be surfing European beaches or cruising on his hog. Lois questions what hog. Hal mentions exactly his point in where's his hog. Fed up, Lois declares that they won't go to Aunt Helen's funeral and that the family can do whatever they want from now on. She decides she will take a relaxing bubble bath. Hiding in the bathroom to take a bubble bath, Lois sends Reese away when he tries to encourage her to attend Aunt Helen's funeral. Reese blames Malcolm for it before kicking a trash can over and is upset that Malcolm couldn't respect that he had a good idea and has now created anarchy. Malcolm tells Reese that everyone was against going to the funeral because everyone hated Aunt Helen and asks him to clean up the trash. Reese reminds him that no one has to do anything anymore thanks to him. Malcolm has better things to do and has to get ready for his date with Julie, he asks Lois to wash a shirt for him but she simply dunks it in her bathwater. Hal listens to his records on his quadraphonic, specifically the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Steelers Wheel, while Dewey gets Egg some juice he accidentally spills and Lois calls him to clean it up. Dewey squirts an entire bottle of dish soap on the floor, and him and Egg making a mess of things by covering the entire kitchen floor in suds. As Julie comes to pick up Malcolm, she catches sight of him in his underwear and is disgusted. She runs out of the room only to trip over the cord Hal used to plug in his quadraphonic, fall onto the soapy kitchen floor of Dewey and Egg and slides into the trash can that Reese kicked over. Malcolm runs out, and Julie explains she just wanted to be nice and people advised her to stay away from Malcolm's house. Malcolm apologizes and says he'll be ready to go soon. Julie rejects this, saying she no longer wants to go, and now she wants nothing to do with Malcolm ever again. She then leaves and never talks to him again. Malcolm turns off the record player in frustration. He asks Hal why he hasn't warned him about Julie's arrival so he could've gotten dressed earlier and allowing her to see her in his underwear (Hal was the one responsible for telling her to find him in their bedroom). Malcolm asks for Lois in advice in how to keep the family together because they're needed to support one another. She refuses to help Malcolm out, reminding him that he earlier fought with her against going to Aunt Helen's funeral because his plans didn't allow it. Malcolm goes to his room and feels guilty over dividing his family up and indirectly humiliating Julie. The Wilkersons are now divided, Lois drinking tea, Hal eating cookies and playing with his Jello, Reese applying new tape to his hockey stick and Dewey plays with Egg. In the boys' bedroom, a guilty and remorseful Malcolm calls Francis for his advice in what to do to fix this issue. He mentions that with Julie hating and the family not speaking to each other, he feels lost. Francis is elated and mentions he knew the family being divided was going to happen sooner or later. He wisely suggests to Malcolm that he uses a scapegoat to absolve his guilt and give their family someone that they can blame their problems on. He explains whenever he's at home and with Lois blaming him for their problems as the scapegoat, Francis was able to keep them together. Without him or anyone else to blame their problems on, the Wilkersons doesn't know what to do with themselves and are giving each other the silent treatment. Malcolm thanks Francis for his help and hangs up. He faces the audience and mentions Francis is right: the family needs a scapegoat to blame all of their problems on. Since he tore the family apart by being selfish, he should end the conflict and knows who will make the perfect scapegoat: Reese. Coming into the living room, Malcolm addresses his family and apologizes for tearing them apart because of his own selfish needs. This gets Lois' attention knowing he's taking responsibility for his mistake. However, Malcolm tells them he's not done yet and mentions that Reese's actions in hurting Dewey is much worse then him tearing the family apart. He looks up in horror upon being caught and tries to stop Malcolm from stealing his bag. He is able to get the bag before Reese could stop him and takes out the crushed Mighty Man toy from the backpack as proof. This ultimately ends up exposing his plans to Hal and Lois. She is furious with Reese and picks up the crushed remains of the Mighty Man toy. Lois asks Malcolm if this was Dewey's birthday present and he admits it to her. She faces Reese and immediately yell at him for ruining Dewey's upcoming birthday with his selfishness as the Mighty Man toy present is very expensive. Hal agrees and stands up to take away his hockey stick. He calls Reese a rotten kid for how he treated Dewey. A smug Malcolm reveals to Hal and Lois about his true motivation and reason that he was so enthusiastic to attend Aunt Helen's funeral was so he can stash the remains inside the coffin. They are further disgusted with him for his intentions. Hal tells Reese off that it's very selfish of him to make Aunt Helen spend the rest of eternity holding a crushed Mighty Man toy for his own amusement. Dewey is obviously very hurt by this and his birthday is ruined. Hal and Lois agree that it's new low on Reese's part. They now have plans for his punishment. Reese tries to lie his way out of it by standing up to give out his excuse. Hal and Lois refuse to believe him and forces him back on the couch. Reese tries to remind Lois that the family isn't going to Aunt Helen's funeral because She said so. She tells off him that he can guess again and decides that the family will attend the funeral right away so he can apologize to Aunt Helen. She also decides that the entire family will apologize to her right away. Hal herds everyone (including Egg) in the family car wearing the clothes they currently have on and if they drive creatively, they can make the ending of the funeral. They arrive at Aunt Helen's funeral on time. During the ending, Hal gives out a heartfelt and amusing speech about her life. This impresses the family, Egg and the funeral attendees. Lois is talking to Francis on the lawyer's phone and admits she's impressed with Hal's speech. He asks for his phone back and she tells him to wait a minute longer because she's almost done. Lois apologizes to Francis for her earlier behavior and mentions how lovely Aunt Helen looks in the coffin. Reese is seen facing the wall with his nose to the corner as his punishment for ruining Dewey's birthday by breaking the Mighty Man toy. He tries to turn away hoping he wouldn't be caught. Lois immediately catches Reese in the act and loudly shouts at him to face the wall again, shocking everyone in the funeral. Fearing further punishment, he complies to her wishes and faces the wall. Whispering on the phone, Lois calmly tells Francis about Reese's actions in breaking Dewey's present and ruining his upcoming birthday by trying to stash the remains inside Aunt Helen's coffin. Malcolm states it has been a pretty productive day, now he has Julie Houlerman hating him and Reese waiting to kick his ass when they get home. He helps his elderly Uncle Louie by giving him a water because he needs someone to put in a good word for him just in case Aunt Helen decides to bad mouth him to God. Cast *Jane Kaczmerek as Lois *Bryan Cranston as Hal *Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis *Justin Berfield as Reese *Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey *Frankie Muniz as Malcolm Guest Stars * Alexander Gould as Egg Recurring *Landry Albright as Julie Houlerman Quotes :had just gotten wind of Reese breaking Dewey's birthday present, thank to Malcolm taking the backpack and revealing the crushed Mighty Man toy as proof of his older brother's wrongdoing. :Lois: Oh my God! Was this Dewey's present? :Dewey: Present? :Lois: Reese, how could you? Do you know how expensive this was? HAL! :Hal: I'm on it. up and taking Reese's hockey stick That was a terrible thing to do to your little brother. :Malcolm:smug There's more. He was going to bury it with Aunt Helen. :and Hal are further disgusted with Reese. :Hal: You were going to make Aunt Helen spend eternity with a crushed Mighty Man. :Dewey: Mighty Man?! :Lois: I can't believe you. :Hal: This is a whole new low, Reese. :Reese:to stand up, but Hal and Lois forces him back on the couch First of all, this is all circumstantial. I don't know how that thing got in my backpack. And as for this Aunt Helen business, no one knows what I would've done at that funeral because we're not going. :Lois:convinced Who says "we're" not going. :Reese: You did! :Lois: Well you can guess again. You're going to march up to that coffin and apologize to that poor dead woman. We all are! ---- :Lois: Aunt Helen's funeral Yeah Francis, your father's giving out a speech and it's actually kind of good. :Lawyer: Can I have my phone back? :Lois: I'm almost done, sweetie. talking to Francis Oh, Aunt Helen looks just lovely. :is seen with his back turned facing the corner and his nose to the wall as his punishment for breaking Dewey's birthday present as well as his intentions to stash the remains in Aunt Helen's coffin. He turns around thinking Lois hasn't seen him. Unfortunately, she busted him doing so and is angry at him. :Lois: at Reese YOU TURN RIGHT BACK AROUND, MISTER!!! :else is shocked as Reese in fear turns around to face the wall. :Lois: Francis You'll never guess what Reese did. Trivia *Erik Per Sullivan and Alexander Gould later appeared in Finding Nemo. *This episode marks the final appearance of Julie Houlerman. *The song that Hal plays on his stereo is "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes focusing on Malcolm Category:Episodes focusing on Lois